𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

twenty nine.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
another artist

Mateo

next day

Cookie had called Mateo yesterday and told him Jamal had been shot three times. Now he was in critical condition, and the doctors were saying it wasn't looking good for him.

Mateo couldn't move after that, which was why he didn't come to the hospital yesterday. It felt like someone had snatched his heart out of his chest because Jamal was the love of his life, and if he died, Mateo might as well be dead too.

What sucked the most was the fact that he and Jamal were on bad terms before he got shot. Mateo was going to be very angry if he died without them resolving their issues. He'd never forgive himself.

The nurse told him what room Jamal was in, so he headed there and saw Tory coming out. "Hello, Mateo."

"Hey, is Jamal awake?"

"He's still unresponsive."

Mateo felt like shit again. "Damn. How did this even happen?"

Tory explained. "His sister in law died."

That shocked him. "What?"

"Yeah. Jamal just wanted a fun night out to distract himself, so he went to Club Nirvana and-"

"Hold up, Club Nirvana?" Mateo repeated.

"That's what I said. Is there a problem?"

Yeah, there was a problem. Didn't Warren run that place? Was Jamal partying with him or something?

"I just have one question. Was that Warren guy there?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Tory pointed at Jamal's room and Mateo quickly went inside because he knew damn well Warren wasn't in there. But he was, sitting next to Jamal's bed.

"Hello, Mateo."

Mateo didn't greet him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm Jamal's friend. That's what I'm doing here."

"He isn't even responsive, so you don't need to be in here."

Warren stared at him with a straight face. "Did you really come in here to argue with me when your boyfriend is dying in front of you?"

That shocked the hell out of Mateo. "Boyfriend?"

"Yeah. Jamal told me the truth. He's gay."

Wow. Jamal was telling their business to Warren, but he wouldn't tell the world? Just how close were they?

Warren continued. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell the world anything. I'm not gonna destroy Jamal's life like you."

Mateo was offended. "How the hell did I destroy his life?!"

"One thing I noticed about Jamal is that he always seems to be heartbroken," Warren began. "He told me he couldn't invite you to his own sister-in-law's funeral, and that had me doing a lot of thinking."

"Yeah? What do you think?"

"I think you don't deserve him," Warren said bluntly.

Mateo scoffed. "Of course you think that."

"I do. You put that man through too much turmoil."

Mateo was done with his opinions. "Listen, Jamal and I's relationship has nothing to do with you, so you need to mind your business."

"It became my business when he ran to me because you didn't want to answer the phone."

Mateo paused for a moment. "What do you mean he ran to you?"

"He dialed my number and said he needed to vent. So we kicked it together," Warren told him.

"And then he got shot. So I think you need to stay away from him," Mateo retorted.

Warren shrugged. "Should've answered the phone, Mateo. So if Jamal dies, it's on you. And deep down, you know it too."

Alright, Mateo was out. "You know what? I'll come back when Jamal's responsive. I want to talk to him, not you."

"I'll still be here."

Yeah, he probably would be.

Hakeem

The news had been talking about Jamal getting shot all damn day, and Hakeem was so sick of hearing about it. But for some reason, he couldn't get himself to change the channel. He guessed it was because he was hoping they'd that Jamal was stable or something.

He finally changed the channel because they weren't gonna say that shit. Then Tiana came into his room. "Wassup, bae."

"Hey. I heard about Jamal. He's really dying?"

He spoke dryly. "Yup. He's probably gonna flatline any hour now."

"Don't jinx it, Hakeem!"

"I'm serious! Even the doctor said he's not gonna survive. We're just playing the waiting game."

That made Tiana depressed. "Man, this sucks. Jamal was so cool to me. We never even got to make a song together."

"I finally got to, and it was fun as hell. But now I'll never get to again, I guess." He sighed deeply. "God. I really don't want to attend two funerals, man."

Tiana looked at him. "What do you mean two funerals?"

"My sister in law just died."

"What?! Rhonda?!"

He nodded sadly. "Yup. She fell over the stair railing and everyone's declaring it as suicide, but that's a damn lie."

"You think it was foul play?"

"I think it was Andre play," he corrected. "No, I don't think. I know."

Tiana was baffled. "Hold on. Are you accusing your brother of killing his own wife?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing."

Tiana sucked her teeth. "Here we go."

"What do you mean here we go?"

"You're always dissing Andre, Hakeem. Now you're accusing him of being a murderer and it's getting out of hand."

He explained his reasoning. "Rhonda wanted a divorce from him, Tiana, and then she ended up dead the next day. Tell me that ain't suspicious."

Tiana just stared at him earnestly. "You need to stop thinking the worst of your brother. He's going through a lot right now."

"So am I! Jamal's in a hospital bed because of him!"

"And because of you!" Tiana argued. "You called the hit on Jamal, and one of your crazy fans acted on it." He was shocked she knew that. "Yeah, I know about that. Ro tells me a lot."

Hakeem huffed. "Well, I already feel guilty. You don't have to rub it in."

Tiana laid next to him now. "I'm not trying to rub in anything. I just want you to ease up on Andre. I think Jamal would like that too."

"Yeah, maybe." Hakeem turned the news back on because maybe they had some new information. It was a good thing he did because there was some new info.

"This just in! Another Empire artist has reportedly been shot: Gram Miller. He was rushed to the hospital, and is reported to be in stable condition."

"What the fuck?" Tiana breathed out. "Gram got shot?"

"And he's in stable condition?" Hakeem was angry because Jamal didn't get that fucking lucky, but Gram did? He didn't even deserve it!

"Who the hell shot him?" Tiana wondered.

Hakeem didn't know the answer to that, but he had a feeling they were gonna find out real soon.